Josh Greene

Monday, June 08, 2015

Hat tip to Jiffy Lube for a clever SEO tactic. On their locations pages, they have a list of services. Those services that they don't offer are in the same text, just grey. They index pretty well, to, for the services they don't offer.

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

I had the pleasure of visiting my friend Floyd in Chicago recently. He runs Complete Crewing, a production company in Chicago. Basically, they take care of all the labor for convention centers like McCormick Place. What I found particularly interesting was that they've carved out a niche, by basically knowing more about one particular area than anyone else. The labor laws in Chicago appear so byzantine, that some companies bypass Chicago as a site for shows, and others need a resource to navigate them. That's where Floyd comes in. They've got complete guides to venues (in many cases,more thorough than those venues) and due to the frequency of their work, relationships with all of the unions. Fascinating to see in action - and a great old brick building for a workplace.

Friday, January 09, 2015

As a former employee of Shop.org, and as a public service, I offer the following tips on what to bring to the NRF Big Show in NYC next week.

1. Very comfortable shoes
2. Some sort of easy on-easy off clothing - a sweater you can pocket or tie around your waist.
3. A bottle of water or cough drops. The Javits center is dry. Really, dry.
4. Your phone
5. A charger for your phone - everyone there wants an outlet
6. Snacks - If you enjoy 50 person lines for a $13 sandwich, don't bother, but a bag of trail mix or beef jerky will come in handy.
7. Some sort of shoulder wearable bag. Or a backpack, even. Despite your best efforts not to collect swag (but I totally needed a tshirt from the vendor of the self wrapping conveyor line), you'll need somewehre to put it.
8. A link to the official Big Show resources page: http://bigshow15.nrf.com/resources It'll definitely come in handy when you forget where you're supposed to be going.
9. A paper backup of your schedule/your hotel info/crucial information. Every year, something happens to someones phone - lost, forgotten, dropped, dead battery... Like the Boy Scouts say, "be prepared.
10. Bring the bar coded email for registration. It'll save you hours if you get there at peak registration.

Not only has the company struggled to shed the cloak of customer suspicion since the hacking scandal was revealed, it's also struggling to recover from a shaky start in its expansion into Canada. With Target shares having fallen 3% since this morning, the company needs a boost badly. Steinhafel's departure can , perhaps, give them that.

Target is Just One of Many Hit by Cyber-Attacks in the Last Six Months

Target is certainly not the first company to be hit by cybercriminals, and, undoubtedly, it won't be the last. Arts and crafts retailer Michael's only recently recovered from an eight-month stretch of data theft that affected more than 2.6 million American shoppers. The difference with Target, beyond the scope of the attack, is that the CEO of Michael's remains at the head of the company. However, many say that Target ousting its CEO could be a sign of things to come as companies continue to let their digital security measures run lax. In other words, people will actually be held accountable for negligence.

Is Anything Being Done to Contain These Issues?

Realizing that billion dollar corporations aren't quite up to the task of monitoring and avoiding these issues -- not to mention letting those affected know of issues in a timely manner -- the Obama Administration and many others on Capitol Hill are working on a series of so-called "Data-Theft Laws" in order to hold companies found guilty of neglecting security responsible when their customers are affected. Further, the laws will set up a security framework, giving these same companies better resources with which to alert their customers when there is an issue. It's a situation that can adequately be summed up as better-late-than-never, but legislation coupled with corporate CEOs actually being held accountable when things go wrong is a definite sign of progress.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Meet notes on the Halloween Howl on 10/26 at Brute Strength Gym in Norfolk.

I set PRs in all three lifts, and had my first total over 1100 lbs.

Squat - 380, and probably could have gotten 390, but was tempted by 400.

Bench - 240, very happy to get this. 250 was probably a little optimistic, and I was wobbly, not quite the recipe to get it.

Deadlift - 485, a 5 lb PR after literally deadlifting once in 18 weeks. Thought I had a shot at 500. It just wouldn't go over my knee cap, and looking at both the 485/500 attempts the "pull straight up your shins" isn't happening well. Based on how sore my lats are, it may now be that getting over 500 is a form issue, more so than a strength issue.

Literally, did about 18 weeks of only doing squat/bench/curls - I deadlifted once, early in October, for a training max of 455. Basically, I just didn't do the deadlift days b/c of my concern about what it would do to a lightly padded concrete floor. Then I kept seeing good games, so I kept it up. Downside was some perpetual quad soreness the last 6 weeks or so. Twice a week definitely agreed with me, in terms of recovery time, and being excited to do each workout.

Whenever things twinged, that was the end of the workout. Same thing with missing a set. I'd just call it, and try again the next time.

New federation - putting on weight, easier federation. I didn't cut weight for this meet - probably went in at 210, and for both bench and squat there's one less command, which makes it a bit easier. Although, on the other hand, having not trained in a monolift, was a little outside of a comfort zone, and the Forenza bench had me wobbling all over the place.

Notes for next time:

Try the program as written. Deadlifting would have definitely helped with form, and especially set up. Making sure to get my diet dialed in (always a goal). Getting some coaching on form.

Monday, September 23, 2013

a) without anywhere substantial to brace your feet, you're pulling entirely with your arms
b) there's a piece of wood that doesn't move (unlike mud), that feet can be braced on.
c) in general, pulling things with both feet braced is substantially easier
d) I'm at my absolute strongest deadlifting, so putting both feet against the vertical post will work best
e) Deadlifting is toughest at the beginning, so bend your legs a bit to make sure you're at your strongest point, when you need to do the work.
f) Once you get momentum going, keep going, it's much easier.
g) There's a reason people on the "Strongest Man" contest wear gloves. Ouch!.
h) Don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it
i) Sometimes there are unexpected rewards - like free kettle corn if you succeed.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Huey Lewis played at Wolf Trap last night. Great night, even with the monsoon (or whatever your call 4 inches of rain, and 40mph winds) that blew through. Played the Sports Album from start to finish - reminds me of bloggers recycling their old posts.

Thursday, August 01, 2013

On 10 emails split testing... (480k total sent) Putting the persons name in the subject line got less opens by a decent margin then putting it in. Also putting the persons name IN the email had less clicks/engagement. I think people are used to that "personalization" as marketing from the get go.